History has taught us that there is no negotiating with absolute dictators. All Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier achieved through their attempted appeasement of Hitler was to give Germany’s dictator more time to get ready for all-out war. Had the West been more proactive in 1936, World War II might have been prevented.

Such “unholy alliances” may postpone but don’t prevent war. Recall what became of the German-Russian nonaggression pact of 1939. Had the Western alliance protected the Sudetenland and Austria, Hitler might not have been able to pursue his dream of German world hegemony.